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In Vitro Spermatogenesis: How Far from Clinical Application?

  • Regenerative Medicine (A Atala, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Male infertility affects 7 % of the male population, and 10 % of infertile men are azoospermic. In these instances, using microsurgical testicular sperm extraction (m-TESE) and intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) helps a significant number of patients. However, in vitro differentiation of diploid germ cells to mature haploid germ cell has the potential to benefit many others, including pediatric cancer survivors who have previously cryopreserved their immature testicular tissue prior to starting gonadotoxic cancer treatment as well as men with spermatogenic arrest. This systematic review evaluates and summarizes half a century of researchers’ efforts towards achieving in vitro spermatogenesis in mammalian species. A myriad of experimental assays and approaches has been developed using whole testis tissue or separated single cells from testis in two- or three-dimensional cell culture systems (2D versus 3D). Recent advances in the mammalian in vitro spermatogenesis, particularly in murine and nonhuman primate systems, hold promise towards translating the availability of in vitro spermatogenesis models in the human clinical setting in the near future.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Drs. Stanley Kogan, Bita Nick Kholgh, and Samuel Pendergraft for editorial assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Guillermo Galdon, Anthony Atala & Hooman Sadri-Ardekani

  2. Department of Urology, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Medical Center Boulevard, Winston-Salem, NC, USA

    Anthony Atala & Hooman Sadri-Ardekani

Authors
  1. Guillermo Galdon
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  2. Anthony Atala
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Correspondence to Hooman Sadri-Ardekani.

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Guillermo Galdon and Hooman Sadri-Ardekani each declare no potential conflicts of interest.

Anthony Atala is a section editor for Current Urology Reports.

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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Regenerative Medicine

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Galdon, G., Atala, A. & Sadri-Ardekani, H. In Vitro Spermatogenesis: How Far from Clinical Application?. Curr Urol Rep 17, 49 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11934-016-0605-3

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